Goran Slavkovski ( mk, Горан Славковски; born 8 April 1989) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He made his only

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

appearance for

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

at the age of 17 years and 1 month – a then club record. Born in Sweden, he represented the Macedonia U21 internationally.

Club career

Early career

Earlier in his career, Slavkovski was nicknamed " Ibrahimović II", because of his similar stature and style of play to the Swedish striker, and as he also played for

FBK Balkan FBK Balkan is a Swedish association football, football club located in the district Rosengård of Malmö. The club was founded on 22 November 1962. They currently play in Swedish football Division 2, Division 2 Södra Götaland. The club comes fro ...

and

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

Inter Milan

Slavkovski made his first team debut with

at the age of 17 years and one month on 7 May 2006 in a

league match against

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

, taking the field at the 83rd minute, thus becoming the youngest footballer ever to play for Inter. This record has since been broken by

Federico Bonazzoli Federico Bonazzoli (born 21 May 1997) is an Italian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), forward for Serie A club Hellas Verona, on loan from U.S. Salernitana 1919, Salernitana. Club career ...

. Previously, the record was held by

Giuseppe Bergomi Giuseppe Bergomi (; born 22 December 1963) is an Italian former professional footballer who spent his entire career at Inter Milan. He is regarded as one of the greatest Italian defenders of all time, and as one of the best of his generation, be ...

. He made his

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

debut against Messina Peloro, on 29 November 2006.

Sheffield United

On 30 January 2008, Inter reached a loan agreement with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

which fell through after he failed a medical and would be unlikely to challenge for a first team place. The next day Inter announced to have loaned Slavkovski to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. On 18 March 2008, Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell claimed that he was still not ready to play in the first team stating that he would play in the reserve team where he could be assessed. Slavkovski returned to Italy at the end of the season without having made a first team appearance for the Blades. He did, however, make six appearances for the reserve team, scoring twice.

2008–09 season and beyond

On 27 June 2008, Slavkovski confirmed a five-year deal with

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

. It was subsequently confirmed that he was in a very weak physical condition as a result of unsporting behavior and that it would have taken weeks for him to regain fitness. The announced transfer was later cancelled due to his condition, and Slavovski remained contracted with Inter. In October 2008, he started training with

, confirming he was still an Inter player and announcing that he will stay on in Sweden for the remainder of the year. His contract with Inter expired in June 2009, and was not extended; since then, he allegedly rejected a number of offers from

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

and

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978� ...

clubs. On 22 January 2010, it was announced that

VfL Bochum II VfL Bochum II (also known as VfL Bochum Amateure or VfL Bochum U-23) was the reserve team of German football club VfL Bochum. The team has made two appearances in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, in 1984–85 and 2005–06. Since 2008 the team ...

had signed Slavkovski. He signed a six-month contract with the option to renew the contract. Slavkovski also had a trial with

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

. He was however released by the end of the season, after failing to play a single game for the club's first team. Since then, his career has faded into obscurity and, in 2011, he returned to Sweden where he briefly joined third division amateurs IF Limhamn Bunkeflo.

International career

Recently the media reported a "war" going on between the Macedonian and Swedish football federations, in attempt to get him to join their national football teams. Slavkovski and his father stated that it would be an honour to play for his country of origin, Macedonia. Slavkovski also met the Macedonian Prime Minister where they talked about his chances playing for the Macedonian national team. The Prime Minister handed him a football jersey with his name on the backside. On 11 June 2008, Slavkovski finally spoke out about his international career and decided to play for Macedonia. In August 2008 Slavkovski made his debut for the Macedonia U21 national team, in the qualification matches against Estonia and Norway. He has made three scoreless appearances hitherto.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Inter News
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slavkovski, Goran 1989 births Living people Footballers from Malmö Swedish people of Macedonian descent Association football forwards Swedish footballers Sweden youth international footballers Macedonian footballers North Macedonia under-21 international footballers Malmö FF players Inter Milan players Sheffield United F.C. players VfL Bochum II players IF Limhamn Bunkeflo (men) players Serie A players Swedish expatriate footballers Macedonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany